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Beckham's MLS journey nears end

Los Angeles

Former England captain David Beckham hopes to close out his Major League Soccer career with two-straight championship titles by winning Saturday's final against Houston.

Beckham's six-year playing career with Los Angeles will end with his final game in a Galaxy uniform against the Dynamo after he announced last week he was looking forward to "one more challenge" outside of the MLS.

He is expected to make a decision on where he will end up playing next by the end of the year, saying he has several offers on the table.

"On the field, to have played in three finals and to have been able to lift the championship last year in our own stadium, I felt that I had achieved everything I wanted to do," he said.

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"Now that we have reached the MLS Cup final, that it is going to be in our stadium again in front of our own fans, it just felt it was the right time."

Beckham told British broadcaster Sky Sports that playing in the English Premier League isn't one of the options.

"I can't see myself playing for any other Premier League club" than former team Manchester United, he said this week.

He has been linked to possible moves to the A-League or French club Paris Saint-Germain.

Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Beckham will have left his mark on the league since he began playing for the Galaxy in 2007.

The league has expanded from 12 to 19 teams and it has more than doubled its overall attendance.

"He was an unbelievable ambassador for the league, for the Galaxy," said MLS commissioner Don Garber.

The MLS want to help Beckham take up his option to buy into the league whose horizons he helped expand.

When he inked his ground-breaking five-year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, it included a unique agreement that when he was done playing he would have the right to exercise an option to become an owner.

Since reported to be around $US25 million, that buy-in would be considerably less than the current market rate - at least in part because Beckham's tenure with the Galaxy has helped raise the league's profile.

The Montreal Impact paid $US40 million in the spring of 2010 and the team began play this season, and the price certainly isn't dropping.

"At that time, remember where Major League soccer was," Garber said on Monday in his state of the league summation, part of the build-up to Saturday's MLS Cup league title match.

"What we were looking for was a long-term partner in building this league, someone who was committed to working with us in creating more value for everyone. That's the role that David played."